This is an AI generated audio transcription of the video, and is experimental. For some of the possible errors, you will need more than a grain of salt. If there are doubts, please ask me.
Testimonies
Charles testifies of receiving a new car through divine guidance and intervention. The Lord led him to contact his old salesperson. He then received a favorable trade and offer and miraculously secured financing.
He testifies of the result of obedience, trust, and recognizing God’s voice, where this process of getting a new car was lessened in faith and is grateful for the opportunity to hear and obey the voice of God. Vijo testifies of her family’s reliance on faith during a stressful situation involving their daughter Megan in her hostel. Megan and her roommates were threatened by senior students after reporting on the smell and smoke emanating from their room.
Instead of panicking, the family prayed for Megan’s safety and the transformation of the senior students trusting in God’s protection. Renjith reminded of the verse in 1 John 4-4 which says that, “You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” Before the situation de-escalated, they were able to bring hope and comfort to other worried parents. Now all the juniors are at peace and everything is normal again.
Vijo and Renjith attribute the peaceful resolution to their unwavering faith and prayer. As a family, they emphasize the importance of trusting in God’s plan even during challenging times.
Sermon
For my first internship, I had to attend
some job interviews.
And I thought my friend was fluent enough
for me to attend an interview in French.
And so I went for the interview and they asked me a lot of questions and I answered them. One of the questions by the human resource manager herself, “What do you see yourself doing
in 50 years time?
How would you answer that?” I was what 22 at that time, so at 50 to 22, 72, so I said, “Hmm, I plan to maybe retire in a beach and maybe have a pina colada in my hand and
this before I was saved, you know, take life easy.” And they all looked at me stunned. Later I found out that they were asking me what I would do in five years time, not 50 years time.
I didn’t get that job, yeah?
But here’s the thing, we plan our life out
irrespective of God.
And we ask God’s help to achieve our plans
if we are so inclined or if we call ourselves Christians.
But that’s like saying you would decide your own fingerprint.
Have you designed your fingerprint or were you born with that fingerprint?
You are all born with the purpose of God.
And until you find that purpose, you will not be content.
What they were trying to get from me is my growth plan or structure.
After I came to Christ, my growth plan and my structure, everything
is depending on the plans He has for me because it is inefficient so one walk worthy of my calling in Christ, of His calling in me.
And so when there is something that is confusing,
when there is something that is not in order, I check.
Am I following my plans or His plans because there is no confusion when it comes to His plans. Do you understand?
Are you trying to achieve His plans in the flesh?
And this is what I want to talk to you about.
Order versus confusion.
You don’t have peace in your life because there is no order.
And you try to substitute all that, including prayer.
Whereas Jesus Himself is the Prince of Peace.
And in 1 Corinthians 14, 33, we read that God is not the author of confusion but a peace.
And Jesus is the Prince of Peace. And in 1 Corinthians 14, 14, He says, “Let all things be done decently and in order.”
How can you bring order to something if you are not in order?
Jesus has a good word for such people.
Hypocrites, whitewashed tombs. God hates disorder and chaos
because they’re the result of rebellion. We don’t realize that.
The way He operates is that He first establishes order
and then establishes authority.
If you want to have authority, there must be order in your life.
We just have to look at how God did things and is doing things. Let’s go to Genesis to the beginning of creation.
In Genesis 1, 2, he says, “The earth was with thought form and void,
and darkness was in the face of the deep.” This with thought form and void is tohu wah bohu. That is what it means in what it’s saying in Hebrew.
You find that same word and you need to understand this because we are talking about confusion. In Isaiah 34, 11,
he says, “But the Pelican and the porcupine shall process it, and the owl and the raven shall dwell in it, and he shall stretch out over it the line of confusion and the stones of emptiness.” The line of confusion and the stones of emptiness. That is tohu wah bohu. This is how the earth was.
Confusion and the stones of emptiness filled the land
causing desolation and chaos. The earth was in disorder and in chaos because darkness did that. What does the thief do? Comes to steal, kill and destroy. Yes? And so the first thing God did was establish order. He put away the darkness
and who was brooding over that? The Holy Spirit. And verse 3 says, “Let there be what? Light. Let light be.” He didn’t create light. He gave permission for Jesus to move. Yes?
So he brought order into that. Second thing he did was to establish the authority over this darkness through Adam.
Unfortunately, today our days are full of chaos and confusion.
And when you mention order, it’s not popular in our generation.
Why? Because everyone does as they please.
And some even openly and wildly resist God or the submission to God to bring order. While others resist,
the limitations put by God. They think he’ll rob their fun or their flesh. Of course.
The flesh will kill you.
So this is one of the reasons why our prayers are not answered and it begins with our heart and ends with our mouth and eventually our actions. If there is no order, it will show. I have no doubt this is rebellion against God. It speaks out. It agitates. It has a voice.
And other people can smell it.
Here’s the thing.
Wherever you put Jesus, he’s the Prince of Pecos.
Wherever there is the devil, there is chaos and confusion and darkness.
We are born into that darkness. We are born into that chaos. This is not to condemn you. If you have chaos in your life, what does Jesus say? In Matthew 11, 28, he said, “Come to me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Hallelujah.
I will give you what? Rest. That means you cast your burden to Him. So how do you settle our soul?
How do you bring rest to your soul?
We fail to understand certain principles when it comes to this.
We think going by the way of the world doesn’t have any consequences. But you got to look at what the Lord is saying.
Let’s go to Psalm 135 16 to 18. It is talking about those who worship idols.
Now, you may not worship an idol, but anything that comes in the place of God, this is talking about. Do you understand what I’m saying? Yes.
If you think God is plan B or plan C and you have a major plan, that major plan is an idol. Seek your first what? The idol of the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God. Yes. Do you understand?
I’m saying all this not to condemn you.
To bring order into your life and only the Holy Spirit can bring that order and contentment in your life. Without the Holy Spirit, you will not have that.
You’ll have the weakness of it. Do you understand? But you will not have the true contentment. Now, let’s go to the scripture.
In Psalm 135 16 to 18, talking about idols, they have mouths.
But they do not speak. Eyes they have, but they do not see. They have ears, but they do not hear. Nor is there any breath in their mouths.
Those who make them are like them. And so is everyone who trusts in them.
Those who make them are like them. And so is everyone who trusts in them. In other words, if you worship a monkey, you’re going to be like a monkey.
Because that’s what the scripture says. If you trust in a monkey, you will become like a monkey.
Go to Psalm 15 115 Psalm 115 verse 8. It says those who make them are like them. And so is everyone who trusts in them. Twice it says that.
Remember, Tohu, wah, Bohu, confusion. But our victory is in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Come to me, all of you. I don’t know about you,
but I need to go to Jesus. Hallelujah.
Like I said, this is not to condemn you, make you feel bitter. No, there’s hope. Hallelujah.
Let’s go to Zachariah 4 6 and 7. And most of you are familiar with verse 6. I’ll read that. So he answered and said to me, This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel. Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord of hosts. Hallelujah. The Lord of hosts.
There’s a difference. Now, this is another topic altogether, but I want you to understand this. God is a God of order. Yes. There is a difference between the hosts of heaven and the messengers of heaven. What is Gabriel? A host or a messenger?
Messenger. Who does Jesus ride the white horse dipped in blood with messengers or the host?
Host. Because is the Lord of hosts? Yes. The Lord of armies of heaven. Because that is what David challenge Goliath with. How dare you come against me? How dare you come against me who was a covenant with the Lord? Because he’s an uncircumcised Philistine. Do you understand what I’m saying? The Lord of hosts. Yes. But here the Lord of hosts is saying what not by might, not by power, but by my spirit. Imagine a general is saying that to you. He’s got a whole army, but he’s saying, I’m going to do this. Not by that army. How is Jericho one? How did the walls come down?
They shouted praise. Hallelujah. Not by might, not by power. Yes.
Are you with me so far? Yes. We’re on verse six. Yes. Now we go to verse seven. Say, who are you? Oh, great mountain. Now that finger you pointed to your neighbor, pointed at your problem and said, who are you? Oh, great mountain, you shall become a plane.
And he shall bring forth the capstone with shout of grace, grace to it twice. It’s his grace, grace. And the Hebrew word for grace is pain.
That means no matter what it is, what you shout, grace, grace, it’s the grace of God that will move into that situation. Amen. Not by might, not by power, but by the Holy Spirit. Hallelujah. In Psalm 16 lines have fallen for me in pleasant places.
Like your fingerprint, you don’t decide where those lines fall. God decides and he has decreed those lines that they fall for you in pleasant places. That means you’ll be happy. Yes.
Do you understand? And we read in the New Testament that I can do all things through Christ Jesus
who strengthens us. The problem is that we are burdened by lies of the enemy.
Why was there chaos? Because there was darkness. Remember when there’s confusion, when there’s disorder, when there’s all kind of mess, understand the devil is there playing.
What do you do? You can’t do anything. You drop Jesus into that situation. Hallelujah. And he’ll clear up that mess for you. Not by might, not by power, but by the Holy Spirit. But you need to submit to him. And submission is a dirty word
for this generation. Do you understand? Now in Romans 8, 37 to 39 it says, “Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height or depth nor any created things shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” In other words, nothing.
Nothing. There’s more to this. That’s why he hesitated whether I should talk about it now or later. Because he talks about things present or the things to come. Talks about time. Talks about relativity. Talks about created things. Nothing that has been created
can separate you from God. But you have been given a free will and use that free will to get close to God because the devil uses that to get you away from God by lying to you saying, “Oh,
you’re full of failure. You haven’t met your standard. For your husband ought to be like this,
but he’s not like that. Your wife ought to be like this, but she’s not like that. No. Be content. Hallelujah. Yesterday during the Bible study, I was talking about
how people in the last generation are not content. Neither are they thankful for the blessings
they have watched that Bible study. But in Romans 1 21 to 23, it says, “Although they knew God, they do not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man, and birds, and for-footed animals, and creeping things.” What happens to an image made like that? You become like that. Do you understand? This is a principle. Remember? Tohu wa bohu.
Hallelujah. Now, when you go home, I want you to read Psalm 115 and Psalm 135, because
in it, there’s a great key, a principle that’ll break through for you if you really understand it. Because in the same psalm that says that you will be like the idols you make, later it talks about the solution God has for this. I’m putting it in my words. If you go to Psalm 115 verse 13 to 15, it says, “He will bless those who fear Him.” Same psalm. Both small and great. And then there’s a plastic. “May the Lord give you increase more and more, you and your children. May you be blessed by the Lord who made heaven and earth.” Hallelujah. So it starts with what? The fear of the Lord. Do you understand? The fear of the Lord tells me when there’s confusion, when there’s disorder, it is not the Lord at work there.
And if there’s an enemy at work there, what do I do? I go to God, I get the wisdom, and I operate with that wisdom because anything I do in the flesh is not going to work. Do you understand what I’m saying? Yes? So you read the same thing in the other psalm. In Psalm 135 verse 20 it says, “Bless the Lord, O house of Levi, you who fear the Lord, bless the Lord.” So it starts with the fear of the Lord. So how does your solution for Tohu Wa bohu, start with fearing the Lord? This is not an Old Testament principle. You need to understand this is from the God who never changes. Go to 1 Peter 2 17. How many of you know that’s in the New Covenant? Yes? It says, “Or all people love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the King.”
Fear God, yes? This is our covenant with Jesus Christ. In Hebrews 12 28, “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.” Two different things.
Fearing God is not reverence alone because it says very clearly one is reverence, yes, and then godly fear. So have grace, number Hain, Hain, have grace and serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. If you don’t fear God, he will lay you to waste.
You don’t want that. All you got to do is surrender your life to God and what stops you from surrendering your life is pride. And I spoke about that yesterday. And because of that, if you have pride, pride basically is rising above God, you will not hear his voice. You may know about the last time and the end of days and all that, but
it is not knowledge that catches you up to God. It’s the Holy Spirit that catches you up to God. That is called the rapture. Amen? Not by might, not by power, but by the Holy Spirit. Don’t condemn yourself. Don’t think, “Oh, I cannot achieve this. This is hopeless for me.” Cry out to God. Remember last week, I said, “How much more will your father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?” So you need a revelation of why there is this confusion in your life. “And the Lord will talk to you. He’s never failed to talk to you. Maybe he’ll choose someone else to talk to you or he’ll make it known to you.”
That is revealing of this problem or a revelation of God in your life. Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
And this is applicable for anyone who’s hearing the sound of my voice.
All you got to do is humble yourself and seek the Lord. Amen?
God is not angry with you. You got to think that he is
pleased with you. That he considers you virtuous.
This is how we examine ourselves. We check if there’s disorder and we compare that to the order that is in Christ Jesus so that we get rid of this disorder knowing they’re nothing but lies. And we get rid of this disorder knowing that there’s nothing but lies.
But we got to learn this.
Remember, grace, grace.
Not by might, not by power, but by the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit who will teach you.
In Philippians 4,
11-13,
it says, “For I have learned.” That is what Paul says. “I have learned in whatever state I am to be content.”
That means it’s something that he had to learn.
It’s not because of his experience or the years of heart knocks or whatever.
It’s what the Holy Spirit taught.
And in verse 12 he says, “I know how to be a beast. I know how to abound.
Opposites everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry.
Both to abound and to suffer need.”
And he
ends this by saying, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” How does he strengthen you?
With the Holy Spirit, who you are a temple of. Amen.
I have learned in whatever state I am to be content. If you are not content,
you will hear 50 instead of five like I did at that interview.
Because you will not be at peace.
What has robbed you of that peace?
It is not God who is not a temple of God. It is not God.
And sometimes it’s easy to say the devil did that when you have just followed your flesh.
But whatever it is, doesn’t matter. God doesn’t condemn you.
Hallelujah.
God doesn’t condemn you.
I say this again. God doesn’t condemn you.
For there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
And Jesus said on the cross, “It is finished.”
So if you have some need that you think God just supplied, then cry out to him.
Because man will not give you that.
But you got to learn to be content. And the Holy Spirit will teach you how to be content, no matter what you’re going through.
When people tell me that they have things that they can’t even think of, the needs that need to be met, I tell them not to worry. Because we can’t think beyond our abilities.
But hallelujah. In the same chapter in Philippians 4 verse 19 says, “My God, she supplied all according to his riches, not your riches or your capacity.”
Hallelujah. But first and foremost, learn to be content.
And you can only do that if you’re filled with the Holy Spirit, because then you will have the peace that surpasses all understanding. With you will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen. (Music)
Again, I’m telling you, don’t get condemned.
This is not a message to condemn you, but to teach you that God loves you, to tell you how much he loves you. All you got to do is to run to him, surrender to him,
and he will lift you up and honor you.
And the church said, Amen.
May the love of God, our Father in heaven, (Music)
may the fellowship of our risen Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
(Music) and may the sweet companionship of the Holy Spirit be with you, (Music)
as to go forth in peace, to seek and to save them that are lost.
(Music)
Starting with you.
(Music) Hallelujah. Find peace in Jesus Christ, in Christ alone.
Amen. Go in peace. (Music) In Jesus’ name.
(Music)